The King

The "King of Rock and Roll" died August 17, 1977, over 34 years ago.  At least that's what they'd have you believe.  Here's what really happened.

Those of you born in Mississippi know that Florida using "gators" to represent their football team is a distortion.  The kings of the gators reside in Mississippi, where Mr. Presley was born, in Tupelo.

Elvis never forgot his roots, although, in all honesty, it would have been better if he'd moved on.

Young boys growing up in those parts learn that they need to test themselves against a king gator.  Some pass the test; some don't.  It's a problem.

Because his Mom sheltered him too much, young Elvis never got to do his test, something he missed deeply.  His friends had made their way down to the swamps, and passed or failed as the case may be.

If you grew up in those parts back in the 40's when Elvis did, you know the rules of the test.  If you best the gator in whatever contest you chose, you get to make shoes out of his skin.  If he bests you, well, he takes your name.

In their sorrow, most losers just pick another moniker, like "Killer", or "Spike", or some equally misleading claim.  But what do you do if your name is the most famous in the world?

In August of 1977, a high flying financier was opening a major showplace in Mississippi.  He wanted to make a splash, so he hired "The King" to open his room.

Elvis saw it as a chance to finally make his bones, to take his test, to face a king gator.

The contest he chose, a common one in those days, was the ability to sing some catfish up out of the water.  How could he lose at that?

Unfortunately, Vegas hadn't helped him to perfect his catfish songs.  While the gator, well he just loved that fish meat.

Needless to say, retirement was preferable to starting all over again as some young punk in Memphis named "Muscle Mike", or whatever.  But retirement wouldn't have avoided the embarrassment.

So, the Colonel came up with an alternative.  The family could continue to pull in the millions, and "The King" would pass into history.

How well the gator liked being called "Elvis" isn't known.